Lessons from a Lost Republic: What Ancient Rome Can Teach Us About This American Moment by Michelle Berenfeld reviews the transition of the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, a dictatorship.
Events in the late years of the Roman Republic led to the erosion of democracy because of the accumulation of power by elites, who sought to retain their power and wealth, at the expense of the freedom and liberty of the broader society.
Grants of “emergency” powers slowly but surely shifted how Roman institutions and offices functioned. extraordinary powers became harder and harder to claw back. Eventually this shift resulted in more power for “the first among equals” who became the man we call Emperor Augustus.
The US Constitution used a similar, but not identical, separation of powers to the Roman Republic, that separation does not seem to be working as intended.
For those readers who want a simpler explanation, a much shorter and simpler article with much less detail was published on the same topic by Michelle Berenfeld in the Atlantic earlier this year.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/rome-senators-republic-augustus/682469/
I recommend Lessons from a Lost Republic to anyone concerned with preserving our democracy. I thank Netgalley (https://www.netgalley.com ) for the chance to read this before publication. The book is scheduled to be published on August 11, 2026.
It has been said “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”